Sound of the City

A phone rings, unanswered, in an empty telephone box. A blackbird sings loudly from a tree-top, prompting a rival male to answer from across the street. The wind ruffles the fresh bright green leaves. Car horns toot from the minor jam on Lothian Road. A taxi cruises up Johnston Terrace, the characteristic engine sound bouncing back off the Castle Rock.

Set myself the task tonight of trying to photograph sound in the city. Not quite as silly as it sounds. It's to mark the launch this week of the next stage of the Festival City project. The EIF is collaborating with the composer Tod Machover who will create a new orchestral work about Edinburgh and its festivals through an interactive collaboration with people from all over the world. There is more information on the EIF website but there are several stages if you fancy getting involved yourself.

First, they want people to send their impressions of Edinburgh. While they are, not surprisingly, primarily looking for sonic materials, you can also send in photos, drawings, personal stories or anything else that captures the Festival City. So you could send in a blip!

Whatever you choose to submit you can send it as an email attachment, leave it on the Festival City answer machine or upload it to SoundCloud.

This week a new app - Constellations - is being launched that will allow users to play with the sounds already submitted. And there will be another app launching around end of May/beginning of June, but at this stage they haven't revealed very much about it as some details are yet to be confirmed.

I'd recommend you check out the website if it sounds (see what I did there?) like the sort of thing you'd like to be part of. Who knows, your sounds could end up as part of an orchestral work at this year's Festival.